Joslyn lingered in the doorway a little longer, resting her hand over the mark on her shoulder. Before she could force her feet to move, Russ looked up from the group directly at her. He waved for her to come over. She slowly made her way toward him, her nerves made the 400 feet separating them feel like miles. {I've seen some of the guys he is with around campus; they must be the swim team. I remember seeing flyers around the school for this event, but I can't for the life of me remember what they were doing... a talent show, maybe? As attractive as this group of guys is, I'm sure girls would pay no matter what they did.}
Russ had turned away from her to say something to the guy beside him. She took the final steps to stand behind his large frame, hiding from the small group. {Why did I agree to this....} She felt his hand graze her hand; she watched as he teasingly ran his fingers along her hand while he continued talking to the group of people around him. When he suddenly grabbed her hand tightly, she glanced up at him to see he was looking down at her with a satisfied smile. He pulled her closer and drew her hand to his mouth to place a gentle kiss on it. She couldn't help but stare up at his mouth completely mesmerized as her mind replayed the many other parts of her body those lips had kissed over the last several hours.
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME!" exclaimed two loud, bombing voices in unison.
The words pulled Joslyn's mind back down to earth and to the present people around them. She hadn't noticed that all the people around them were staring at them or rather her... Joslyn could feel her face redden. The girls in the group recovered first and went back to trying to get attention from the other guys, but the guys continued staring and yelling their shock. "You lucky bastard!" the taller guy yelled out.
Russ chuckled and drew his attention back to the guys around him, "Jos, this is some of the first years that will be in the show tonight." Russ began introducing them. "This is Gabe, he's a swimming prodigy from one of the local high schools. He took them to nationals last year with freestyle."
The boy with dark brown hair and pale grey eyes stood up from where he was leaning against a pool table and shook her free hand. Joslyn couldn't help but stare at the odd way he was dressed. He had on an unbuttoned solid white dress shirt with a loss tie around his neck instead of the collar of the shirt. He also had on dress pants with what looked like buttons running down the legs of them.
"I'm actually in your upcoming summer class. I figured getting the electives out of the way over summer break would be more efficient than...." His words trailed off. A shy smile curved his lips as he noticed where she was looking, "Hope you enjoy the show tonight." He winked at her and moved to kiss the top of her hand.
"Alright, that's enough." Russ glared down at the shorter boy. "Moving on, Rin can pretty much fill in where ever he's needed but prefers the butterflies." Rin glared at them over dark sunglasses, Russ laughed. "He's not the friendliest today, but if you ever need help, he's your man, a tried and true friend until the end. You probably recognize him; he went to high school with Shelly and me."
"Nice to see you." Joslyn said as sweetly as she could. There was something about his reddened eyes that was disarming. Intelligence seeped from the grumpy man before her. No matter how uncomfortable it was to look into those red eyes, she trained her gaze on his face to avoid the rest of his body. All he had on was a pair of unbuttoned jeans with what looked like speedos under them. {WTF was this 'show'. Did the boys put on some form of entertainment for the girls before we got here? Why are they all nearly naked!}
Before Russ could even begin introducing the next guy, he stepped forward and pulled her into a huge hug. "I'm Naru, he purred into her ear."
She pushed her palms against his chest, glad that he was fully dressed in a loose muscle shirt that only covered his upper torso and sweatpants. She finally breathed a sigh of relief when Russ pulled her back against him and wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Naru hasn't picked a style yet… He really doesn't like water either, soooo…." Russ chuckled.
Naru shrugged, "Yea well when I saw it was a co-ed swim team all I could think about was hot chicks in swimwear." He laughed when Joslyn looked up at him with shock on her face, "Who knew they wouldn't be training with us."
"It is common knowledge, you idiot." Rin glared at him over the brim of his glasses, sending a shiver through Joslyn. His eyes had their own glow. Though, overall, Rin looked like a normal guy she could tell he was something other-worldly.
She was still studying Rin when another hand grabbed hold of her free hand again. She looked over to see the guy who had stepped forward. She was surprised to see someone in the group she recognized by name. "Kyle, Right?"
He laughed, "You remember me? It's been a while."
She released his hand and backed against Russ once again. Russ wrapped his arms around her waist. "Yea, you and Raven hang out every so often don't you."
He ran his hand through his hair, "Yea, you could say that." He shrugged, "Ya know what they say, birds of a feather…" Kyle was fae like Raven. He had the fae pointed ears and an unusual shade of green hair to match his strikingly bright eyes. Joslyn avoided looking lower than his face as well because he was only wearing skintight swim-shorts that you would typically only see on European Insta-models. She could feel her cheeks redden as newcomers to the bar stopped dead in their tracks and stared over at the group of half-naked guys surrounding her.
Russ's arms loosened from around her waist then took her by the hand. "Alright, shouldn't we be heading out to the stage?" Russ squeezed Joslyn's hand tighter as he made his way toward the back doors, "Lady's come and check out our show." He threw them a mischievous grin and wink causing them to burst out in giggles. She had completely forgotten about the girls; she watched as they quickly gathered their belongings and drinks and followed. Russ pulled her along with him as the group made their way out of the bar. He pulled her tighter against him and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She wrapped her free arm around his waist, instinctively.
"I just don't get it." Naru said while he held the door as Russ and Joslyn walked through it. Once the girls from the bachelorette party had come, through the door, he quickly released it and caught up to Russ and Joslyn. He patted Russ's back as he walked by, "You are gonna have to tell me your secrets one of these days man." He shook his head as he walked past them.
Joslyn looked up at Russ nervously, "What was that about?"
Russ laughed and pulled her into a tight hug, he placed light kisses over the top of her head as he answered, "The guys thought I was making it up when I told those girls I was here with my girlfriend." He bent down lower to kiss the tip of her nose and come down to eye level with her, "They also thought I was kidding when I told them it was you." His smile grew, "See? You were worried that they would think something was wrong with us being together, but baby," He cupped his hands around either side of her cheeks, "to them, we are nothing but roommates, going to the same school, and, added bonus, you are also a TA which adds its own extra sex appeal." He kissed her full on the lips before continuing, "To them, I'm the asshole for seducing the sexy new TA. Half those jerks signed up for your upcoming class just because they heard it was being taught by a sexy chick and wanted a shot at seducing you themselves." He kissed her again this time pushing his way inside of her mouth as he deepened the kiss.
"All right! You assholes have made your point, no need rubbing it in! Come on Russ, you're up first." Naru called out. The group had stopped apparently when they had notice Russ and Joslyn was no longer with the group. Rin rolled his eyes at them and continued walking ahead of the group toward an area of the stage they had hung curtains up around.
Russ laughed as he pulled away from Joslyn, "Come on guys, jealous much?!"
Kyle, the loudest of the group yelled back, "Hell yea we are! Now quit making out and come the hell on!" Kyle, Naru, and Gabe burst out into laughter as they turned and headed toward the stage and seating to set up for the night's fundraiser. Rin had already disappeared behind the curtains leading to the backstage area.